Austria will not return Klimt to former Jewish owner's heirs

VIENNA, March 6 (Reuters) - One of Gustav Klimt's most
famous paintings will not be returned to the heirs of its Jewish
former owner in a case that has tested Austria's laws on
restitution of looted art.

The law, which is often applied in cases linked to the
country's Nazi past, was updated in 2009 to include works which
were sold rather than stolen, but whose owners had been put
under pressure to part with their property.

The 34-metre long Beethoven Frieze, completed in 1902 as a
homage to the German composer's Ninth Symphony, used to belong
to the Lederer family, but was seized when they fled to
Switzerland after Nazi Germany annexed Austria in 1938.

Erich Lederer got the masterpiece back after World War Two,
but he was not allowed to export his many other artworks unless
he sold the painting to the Austrian state at a discount, the
family's lawyers say.

He eventually sold it for $750,000 in the 1970s and it now
hangs on public display in Vienna's Secession Building.

Austria's government, which returned several works by
Klimt's near contemporary Egon Schiele to Lederer's heirs in
1999, said it would follow an expert panel's decision on Friday
that the painting was lawfully sold to the state.

One of the lawyer's representing some of Lederer's heirs
said he rejected Friday's decision and planned to take the case
to the European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg or a court
in the United States.

Swiss-based lawyer Marc Weber said the decision-making
process regarding Austria's restitution law was not transparent
for the heirs of former owners.

Alfred Noll, another lawyer representing a group of
Lederer's heirs, echoed Weber's criticism, but said he would not
take further action, according to the APA news agency.

Culture Minister Josef Ostermayer said he was glad the
frieze would remain on show for people in Austria to visit.
(Reporting by Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Louise Ireland and
Crispian Balmer)